senate majority leader harry reid said social security should be completely off the table. let's watch the senate leader. >> i've told anyone that will listen, including everyone in the white house, including the president, that i am not going to be part of having social security as part of these talks. >> okay. the president is feeling the pressure to stick to his guns but how much room does he have to reach a compromise before the end of the year? and will the left support one if he does? most importantly, what is the risk to the country of not reaching a deal in the near future? jared bernstein, senior fellow at the senior of budget and policy priorities and an msnbc contributor, vice president of biden's chief economic adviser and joan walsh, editor-at-large of salon. i was trying to get the facts and understand it. the congressional budget office, nonpartisan says if we go off the cliff january 1st which means we let those taxes terminate, the tax rates to go back up again for everybody back up there where they were before this past president was here f we let those cu